The following reviews are of restaurants that I've dined at around the north shore area of Massachusetts. Hopefully my insights will either help you enjoy a future meal or avoid a bad one. Check back for more reviews soon and please leave comments if you agree or disagree with my opinions.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Sam & Joe's is a well known, neighborhood Italian restaurant. Everyone in the Danvers area knows it and has eaten there, because it's been around for decades.
What they mostly serve is large portions of quality, Italian comfort food. Nothing overly fancy, but good food at a fair price. The pasta dishes are big and satisfying. You also can't go wrong with the chicken parmigiana. Not the best pizza in the area, but that's not what I go there for, so they lose no points.

One time my wife ordered mussels over pasta and quite a few were closed. She got a free desert as compensation which we thought was more than fair. Another thing worth mentioning is that they give you really good quality bread before the meal. The environment is comfortable and I'm sure it hasn't changed much over the years. The wait staff is pleasant and the customers are generally a little older than a lot of places, which makes it less chaotic than some restaurants that cater more to kids and young families.